NYTimes installs a cash register in their gourmet soup kitchen.

Brilliant and thoughtful as always, Mark Bittman, the NYTimes foodie, wrote an article offering us 16 soup recipes broken down into 4 categories – creamy, brothy, earthy, hearty – promising we can change and customize them for the rest of our lives.

OR

Read it below.

I’ve cut and pasted the article in its entirety below because today the NYtimes announced they will launch their paywall for content on March 28. Boo! I get it, they’re running a business, but, but, but….Ugh. Browsers can access 20 articles per month for free, but enthusiasts who are addicted to their news coverage and writers like Bittman will have to subscribe at a minimum of $15 per month. Because I’m old school and like to hold the paper in my hands, I pay at least $24 per month for the Sunday editions. For news I go online to CNN or The Daily Beast. In other words, this new installation won’t effect my habits, but it might drastically change yours. For more, check out Howard Kutz’ analysis for the effects and loopholes.

Now, on to the recipes!

“Creamy, Brothy, Earthy, Hearty” — By Mark Bittman

I’m not anti-recipe (obviously), but some things just don’t need them — and most vegetable soups fall into that category. Here are easy-to-follow instructions for making vegetable (vegetarian and, for the most part, vegan) soups with common ingredients, a variety of choices and terrific flavor. Print the following page, stick it on your refrigerator and work your way through it. By the time you’re done — 12 days or 12 weeks later — you’ll never again need a recipe for vegetable soup. Promise.

And you’ll need no special techniques, no advance preparation and, for the most part, not much time. You can use just about any vegetable (or bean) you have on hand. These are not stone soups, but they’re close.

A few practical notes: All of these recipes serve four, and you’ll want about a 2.5-to-4-quart (medium or large) pot. Most can be cooked for a while — but not so long that the freshness is gone. Most will taste as good or better the next day, so consider making a double batch and refrigerating (or freezing) the leftovers. But never boil a soup after you’ve added dairy to it; instead, reheat gently.

If you want a supersmooth soup (and just about any of these soups can be puréed if you like), use a standing blender — let the soup cool a bit first — which creates a finer purée than an immersion blender does; you might even strain the soup after puréeing it.

Garnishes are all optional, though herbs add a dimension that will be lacking otherwise. If you taste as you’re cooking, you’ll be fine, because there is really nothing to go wrong here.

Squash-and-Ginger Soup
Substitute 1 tablespoon minced ginger for the garlic and 4 cups chopped butternut squash for the spinach (it will take longer to soften). Skip the parsley and substitute half-and-half or cream for the yogurt. Garnish: A spoonful of cream.

Curried Cauliflower Soup
Substitute 1 tablespoon minced ginger for the garlic, 2 cups cauliflower florets for the spinach (they will take longer to soften), 1 tablespoon curry powder for the parsley and coconut milk for the yogurt. Garnish: Chopped cilantro.

Chickpea-and-Pasta Soup
Substitute chickpeas for the beans and rosemary for the thyme and add 1 cup chopped tomatoes (canned are fine). When the chickpeas are almost tender, add 1/2 cup small pasta. Cook until the pasta and chickpeas are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Garnish: A few chopped rosemary leaves.

Spicy Black-Bean Soup
Use black beans and substitute fresh oregano for the thyme. When the beans are done, add 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 dried or canned chipotle and the juice of a lime. Garnish: Cilantro and sour cream.

The paywall does suck, but that doesn’t mean you should necessarily copy and paste an article in full to your own website. The legality is questionable (the Times did an analysis of it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/business/media/02scrape.html) but it’s definitely not good journalistic ethics, even if you are linking back to the story.

Although I know I compel people to click through, I don’t think Bittman or the Times would mind me posting the article. It’s a small rebellion against the publisher, but certainly not a common practice for me. I applaud the Times and their writers often. And as I said, I even still buy it in print.

Sarah

Pretty sure that articles linked to from blogs or Facebook won’t count in the meter.

Right, so doesn’t that mean you don’t need to paste the article because readers who clicked through a link could still access the story for free?

Sarah

Not hater-ing, but I agree with Amy that it’s not journalistic best practices to paste the full text of an article in a blog post. IP is getting totally destroyed on the Internet, and even though you’re clear that it’s Bittman’s, he/the Times don’t reap any rewards (i.e. ad revenue, eyeballs that they can include in their UVs when negotiating CPMs) from the incremental readers if you post the content on your site.